The Congress must overcome the ruling Communist Party's "money and muscle power" to win the Kerala election in April/May, its senior leader Ramesh Chennithala said Thursday at the NDTV Kerala Power Play summit. "This is the only threat that we are seeing," he said.
To underline his point, Chennithala said the state had spent "crores of rupees" on the CPM's campaign – the unspoken reference was to taxpayers' money – over the past three weeks. "… this is unwarranted, unethical, and against democracy," he said, "It never happened in Kerala."
"Kerala used to be different but now the government is engaged in election propaganda by spending crores and crores of rupees on ads," the five-time MLA and six-time ex-MP said.
But the people are "mature enough to understand this and will reject it", he said.
Chennithala also reiterated claims of collusion between the CPM and a Bharatiya Janata Party that has historically struggled for traction in the state, though the December 2025 local body polls suggest that could change in this election cycle. The BJP secured the Mayor's post in capital Thiruvananthapuram and will hope this helps boost is poor Assembly polls record.
The BJP has only ever had one MLA – O Rajagopal won the Nemom seat in 2016.
"Definitely there is a tactic understanding between the Left and the BJP in Kerala… you cannot see it from Delhi," Chennithala argued, dismissing the counter-narrative – that the Left and Congress routinely hatch informal agreements to stop the saffron party from rising in the state.
The Congress will win a "decisive number of seats", he declared, citing the party's strong showing in the 2024 Lok Sabha election – the last major poll in the state – to back his claim.
The party won 14 of the 16 seats it contested and the alliance it led, i.e., the United Democratic Front, picked up 18 of 20 seats. "The people of Kerala voted for the Congress in parliamentary elections and this time they are going to vote for Congress in Assembly polls also," he said.
